One question three ways: At its bluntest: when is the worst time in one’s life to be adopted? Asked more reflectively: what age at time of adoption creates the greatest risk for negative consequences in an orphan’s life (e.g., at birth, or up to age 2 or so when language is acquired, or from post-language […]
Tag Archives: adoption nomenclature
“It takes a village to raise a child” is probably the single-most profound or useful proverb as far as recognizing the needs of children growing up. Capitalism presupposes that villages need not exist, should not exist, must be destroyed. So, there you see the very heart of the critique–around the world where the State interrupted […]
Last night I made the unfortunate decision to watch the last 15 minutes of the movie Orphan which was showing on one of the Gulf satellite stations. By coincidence, this was in the search phrases this morning. My punishment perhaps—moreso than the movie in and of itself? In any case, the question is open for […]
We’ve already discussed food analogies that are used as metaphors for interracial adoption; we’ve discussed how pet adoption is similar to human adoption. Now it’s time to talk about metaphorical comparisons to animals used to “help” the transracially adopted child [link]: Despite the grumblings and protests of the other animals, Baby Brown Bear learns family […]
We are familiar with this I think from our childhoods, someone calling us out as “adopted!” which becomes a disparaging term. What about from adults when we were children? What about from adults when we reach adulthood? I’m interested in hearing from adoptees your experiences along these lines.
I finished reading Adam Hine’s (2010) Duncan the Wonder Dog (Show One) today, and one of the things it does is not only to have animals to talk but actually to center the “values” of the story from the animal point of view. (I have a longer review of the book here; there are some […]
Recently, I have been editing a book written a couple of years ago by myself and a (non-adopted) co-author (more details here). It features the circumstance of two, otherwise, unrelated adoptees. Written before I was better informed about adoption, the book enthusiastically contrasts a “good” adoptee (the older sister) with a “bad” adoptee (a younger […]
This was in the search phrase list today. This comes on the heels of a post over at The Adopted Ones, as well as our own item on search phrases. Add to this the list of so-called “disrupted adoptions”, and their celebration (yes, celebration) in the mainstream media. I want to expand on this, and […]
This question is a follow-up to the one asking about the orphanage-bestowed name, and its importance; I’d like to expand on this a little bit if I may. In local culture, the question to ask after someone is min aya bayt?—from which house? In this way a [family] name is closely tied to place, and […]
Several months ago I was at a wedding and met some extended family for the first time and some I haven’t seen for many many years. I felt really silly referring to them as my “aunt” or “second cousin” or even “brother”. I mean, aren’t those titles really for the adopted child, to acclimate them […]
Disambiguation in Wikipedia is the process of resolving the conflicts that arise when a single term is ambiguous How does race affect this?
Having lived over half my life abroad now and having done a fair bit of traveling, I have constantly been forced to deal with the question of “Where are you from?”. From the perspective of my physical appearance, the confusion that sets in when I respond with “I’m from the States” is somewhat understandable. The […]
What are your thoughts regarding the different types of nomenclature applied to original/biological mothers, including terms such as “birth mother,” “first mother,” “real mother,” “natural mother,” and so forth?
Transracialeyes 